Rolled Pizza CrustMake-it-yourself mix or commercial mix

You can roll-out the crust to be as thick or as thin as you like. Notice the crispy crust option.

Here are two approaches that will yield quite a delicious pizza: a do-it-yourself pizza mix or a commercial mix. They are not identical, but they are both similar and it is hard to pick a favorite. This posting is more about technique than recipe because the objective is to make a pizza shell that can be rolled out to any desired thickness or thinness rather than be poured and patted. Want to take the easy way out and use a mix? Just click here and skip the preparation of making pizza from basic ingredients.

The pizza shown above is from a fairly light adaptation of one of the pizza recipes on about.com's website. Just click through to pick up the recipe. However, I did make a few changes:

I'm not a big fan of quinoa and amaranth flours in flour mixes except in specialty breads featuring "ancient grains." Although both of these grains are high in nutrients, they have a strong personality that pretty much takes over. Accordingly, I wanted something that would harmonize rather than dominate; therefore, I left out quinoa and amaranth and replaced them with 1 cup of millet flour. The slightly modified recipe for two cups of gluten free flour (instead of 8 cups) is listed below.

I also thought that the amount of tapioca flour in the basic pizza mix was a bit high, so I opted for more of the gluten-free flour mix and less tapioca: 1 full cup of GF flour mix and 1/2 cup of tapioca starch. I also left out the agar/gelatin powder and cut the xanthan gum in half. It is my opinion that gelatin in a bread recipe really does not improve the texture. The great texture in this pizza recipe comes from the milk protein - casein - in the pizza dough recipe and the use of sweet rice flour in the basic flour mix. I also added a bit extra olive oil to the dough. Use your discretion on the oil.

Here below are the recipes modified as I made this delicious pizza.

GF Flour Blend - Enough for 4 personal 8" pizzas or 2-12" pizzas

Amount

Measure

Ingredient

1/2

Cup

Sorghum flour

1/2

Cup

Brown rice flour

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs

(= 3/8 cup)

Potato starch

2

Tablespoons

White rice flour

2

Tablespoons

Sweet rice flour

1/4

Cup

Millet flour

2

Tablespoons

Tapioca starch

Pizza Recipe - Makes 1-12" or 2-8" personal pizzas

Amount

Measure

Ingredient

1

Cup

Flour mix

1/2

Cup

Tapioca flour

2

Tablespoons

Buttermilk powder (About.Com said you could use non-fat dry milk powder instead.)

1

teaspoon

Salt

1

teaspoon

Xanthan or Guar gum

1

teaspoon

White sugar

1

package (=2-1/2 teaspoons)

Instant yeast

1

teaspoon

Vinegar

1/2

Cup

Warm water

2 - 3

Teaspoons

Extra virgin olive oil

Tapioca flour and cornmeal for sprinkling

Decide on the size and number of pizzas you are going to make. If you decide to make a double batch of pizza shells and use all of the flour, then you are advised to not double the yeast.

Here is a commercial mix that will produce an excellent pizza.

You can make a half a recipe and save the other half for the future by dividing the package in half and using a different packet of grocery store yeast when you make the second batch. Dividing the yeast into two batches is not advisable. Want to make the whole batch and save half in your refrigerator until later: Click here to read more.

Common instructions for using either a commercial pizza mix or the do-it-yourself mix described above. Note that you can optionally make the pizza crust more flavorful by adding some or all of the following:

Sprinkle cornmeal onto metal pizza baking pans. Note that a single12" pizza has about the same area as 2-8" personal pizzas.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together using a whisk.

Put the liquid ingredients into the work bowl of a stand mixer and mix briefly.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium high for 3 minutes.

Sprinkle the work surface with tapioca flour. This is where you will roll out the pizza dough to your desired thickness.

Scrape the bowl and create a ball of pizza dough, one for each pizza you plan to roll out. You will want to flour your hands with tapioca flour.

Now flatten the ball of dough into a pancake with your floured hands.

Sprinkle the top of the flat pancake with tapioca flour and begin to roll out a circle of dough. Flip the dough at least once through the process, sprinkling with tapioca flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

You will probably need to use a bench scraper or a spatula to get under the rolled-out pizza dough round and release it from the surface.

Gently fold the dough in half and then half again, and with the bench scraper, transfer the tender dough to the pizza pan. Now unfold the dough. Smooth it out and pinch up a rim so that the sauce does not run out when you put sauce, cheese and optional topping(s) on the pizza.

Cover the dough with a towel and place the pizza pan with the towel in a warm place for proofing. Allow the dough to rise for about 30 - 45 minutes, or until very puffy.

Par-bake the pizza shells for 8 minutes at 400° F.

Once you have par-baked shells you can freeze them for later use. (Defrost them before spreading with sauce/cheese.) Or you can wrap them airtight and refrigerate them, or even use them fresh after they cool.

You may have dried powdery tapioca flour left on the surface of your pizza shells after they cool. Brush off the excess with a dry pastry brush. Cornmeal may be left on the bottom of the crust.

If you want a very crispy crust, as shown in the photo above, bake the assembled pizza in a covered skillet, on the stove, set to a low temperature. We bake the pizzas at three marks out of 9 marks total on our electric range top . Or you can bake the pizzas in the oven at 425° F until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is as dark as you like.

Our favorite pizza sauce is Muir Glen, available at Whole Foods Market or your friendly health food store. But Trader Joe's pizza sauce and Ragu are also excellent. Trader Joe's makes a mild sauce that benefits from extra garlic. If you want to be fancy, like your friendly pizzeria, thinly coat the un-sauced edge of the crust with olive oil. It will look nice when the pizza comes out of the oven (but we usually skip that step to expedite the eating experience).